Quartzsite

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:25 pm

Quartzsite is name after the mineral quartz. A lot of times where you find quartz you also find gold. There are a lot of rocks and minerals found near quartzsite so rockhounds like the area. In the winter, thousands of people come to the area looking for a warm spot to winter.. I'm not sure why they choose Quartzsite. Warm is about the only thing going for it. There were permanent signs along the highway that said, "Blowing dust area." It means that the day we were there wasn't the only dusty day.
Do you know how animals and sometimes people mill around not knowing where to go or what to do? That is how Quartzsite appeared to me. Only the people were in motor homes and trucks pulling trailers. There are about 75 RV parks in Quartzsite. There are a lot of big gem and mineral shows and some big flea markets. Only everything seemed to be closed up because of the wind and dust. We inquired about motels or places to stay and were told the best places were across the state line in California. We couldn't find a place to eat so snacked on the cheese and crackers we had taken with us.
We did drive to Ehrenberg which is the small town on the state line. It didn't even have any stores. I wonder how people survive with having to drive 40 or 50 miles to shop for groceries. All the little towns seemed to have convenience marts but they were expensive so you couldn't live cheaply by shopping in them.
We decided that our course of action would be to get on the interstate highway and go back to Phoenix.
Interstate 10 goes across the country from California to Florida. It would take you four or five days to drive the whole way. It is used a lot by truckers. The right lane was bumper to bumper semi-trucks. But they were all driving the same speed and not cutting in and out. Cars were mostly using the left lane and traffic was going smoothly. We made good time and arrived back in Phoenix by 5 pm. We saw the exit that we could get off and visit a friend so we did that for a bit of time.
We found an International House of Pancakes and had our evening meal. Then, we found a motel and crashed for the night. In the morning (Thursday) we did some shopping. We found an organic bulk food store when we were looking for another shop. We bought several types of vegetables and some polenta meal and some fructose and dried fruits. We never did find the other shop. We considered stopping at my sister's house, but decided since we were going there on Saturday that we would just get on the Interstate 17 and head for home. It wasn't quite as windy on Thursday. We stopped at Anthem, which is a huge housing developement with shops. We went to WalMart and found a friend working there so stopped to visit with him for a bit. We did some grocery shopping and then headed on up the hill. We got home about two pm. Everyone was surprised to see us so early but we were ready to be home.
It seems it was windy at home too. Chairs and tables were knocked over. A piece of the gardenshed roof was on the ground. The trash dumpster was on it's side and a ladder that was on the gardenshed roof was on the ground. So, we spent a while picking things up and sorting them out. Brian fixed the roof in short order. Chance was happy to see us back. She's been sticking close since we got back. Our neighbor fed her and played in the yard with her. She likes the neighbor but she was happy to see Brian. She does follow him most of the time. She thinks she's human, you see.

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